All about Evan: Longoria desperately seeks different line of questioning

NEWS SERVICE AND WEB REPORTSThe Baltimore Sun

If Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria can keep his career on the same trajectory, someday people might be asking Eva Longoria whether she is related to him. But, for now, the questions still lean toward the Desperate Housewives actress' direction.

As in part of this interview with the Big League Stew blog:

Why does every picture of you on the Internet look like the woman who's married to Tony Parker?

We're not going to go through the whole interview talking about this, are we?

There was an Internet report that Eva sent you champagne and you responded with a gift. What's truth, what's made up?

She sent me a bottle of champagne to congratulate me for making the All-Star team, and she also sent me three jerseys to sign and send back to her.

As an aside, let's say the whole interview was about you and Eva Longoria. Why would that have been bad?

I don't ... I'm done talking about that. I did it all through the minor leagues. That's all I had to hear was her name associated with mine. I think we're kind of past that. That's all.

That's good enough for Mr. Flip.

The interview also noted that Longoria has played for two teams that have been the subject of movies - the Durham (N.C.) Bulls (Bull Durham) and the Chatham (Mass.) A's (Summer Catch). So asked who would play him in a movie, Longoria picked Mark Wahlberg.

And Mr. Flip refrains from any Dirk Diggler remarks.

Fine whine

Foxsports.com decided to uncork a list of college football's whiniest coaches. A taste (swirl it around and make a funny face):

* Rich Brooks, Kentucky: : He has accused a couple of teams of stealing his signals. "Does he really think stealing signals is the only way teams can beat the Wildcats?"

* Mike Stoops, Arizona: : After losing in-state recruits to Arizona State, he offered the other school's supposedly lax academics as an excuse. He said: "Obviously, Arizona State has turned into a JC [junior college], and we are a four-year college."

* Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State: : He's a man, remember? He's 40.

* Tommy Tuberville, Auburn: : Maybe it was just politicking for a Bowl Championship Series title game berth, but you had to love it when he referred to ESPN commentator Lou Holtz as "the guy [who] couldn't beat anybody in our conference."

(Tips of the Flip to SI.com.)

Pinkie swear

Trevor Wikre has given football the finger. But it's because he loves the game.

Wikre, a senior offensive lineman at Mesa State College in Colorado, injured the pinkie on his right hand during practice last week. Told he would need surgery on the finger and then would need six months to heal, Wikre decided he didn't want to miss the rest of his last season.

So he told doctors just to amputate a big chunk of his pinkie.

"I'm just short one," Wikre said. "But this game means that much to me. This team means that much to me."

He missed Saturday's game but is expected back this coming weekend.

"Football is something that's been in my blood," he said. "It's something I have a passion for. The game quits everybody eventually.

"You want to hang on to it as long as you can."

But isn't it a little tougher to hang on without one of your fingers?

(Tip of the Flip to fark.com.)

Compiled from news service and Web reports by Mr. Flip, who knows he has all his fingers, but isn't so sure about his toes because it has been so long since he has seen them.